‘Perfect storm’ forced 300,000 mothers to give up their babies

Valerie Andrews of Origins Canada has done some significant research on what she calls the post-war adoption mandate in Canada.

In a 2017 graduate thesis, Andrews described the mandate as the result of a “perfect storm” of urbanization, eugenics, social work, medical advances, and other factors of the time.

“During the immediate post-war period when ‘good’ mothers were constructed as white and married, the white unmarried mother was treated as a candidate for rehabilitation to the norms of legitimate marriage and normative white motherhood through adoption separation, and, by extension, her child was effectively rendered a commodity.”

Andrews says approximately 300,000 unwed mothers in Canada “were systematically separated from their babies at birth for adoption in an attempt to rehabilitate them for normative womanhood.” Some estimates say as many as 350,000 unmarried mothers were forced to give up their children for adoption.

“Race and gender were integral to the mandate. After making major contributions to the war effort, the powerful postwar climate of maternalism together with the mother imperative relegated white Canadian women back to the private sphere. The ‘good’ woman was increasingly constructed as a homemaker, full time mother, and, white. White unmarried mothers were in contravention of these norms,” she wrote.

It appears four homes for unwed mothers were operated by churches in B.C. during this time: the Catholic-run Our Lady of Mercy Home in Vancouver, the Salvation Army’s Maywood Home in Vancouver, the United Church Home for Girls in Burnaby, and the Anglican Church’s Marion Hilliard House in Kamloops.

Andrews says women at institutions like these were told to use pseudonyms or only first names and some were made to wear fake wedding rings when appearing in public.

“I had to give up my last name for the length of my stay,” said a woman who stayed at the Maywood Home, according to Andrews. “Now I would just be Anne. My only other identifying feature was my due date.”

But as Andrews points out, practices differed widely from one home to the next and even in the same homes from one year to the next.

The Catholic Children’s Aid Society operated under the direction of the Superintendent of Child Welfare of the Province of British Columbia from 1905 to 1973. It received funds from the B.C. government, various municipalities, families, and local Catholics. 

A Senate report into forced adoptions in Canada noted the federal government also provided funding to the provinces and municipalities for “the maintenance of maternity homes for unmarried mothers, the provision of adoption and counselling services, and supporting the casework of social workers.” The Senate committee’s report had several recommendations, with a formal apology from the Canadian government at the top of the list.

In archival documents from 1936, the society claimed its purpose was “the protection of children from cruelty and caring for and protecting the neglected, abandoned, and orphaned children, and the enforcement, by all lawful means, of the laws relating hereto.”

It also offered “unmarried parent services.” In an undated pamphlet, services listed include a place to stay, arrangements for medical care, counselling, financial planning, and temporary foster care for mothers who needed time to plan their futures or to decide if they would give up their child for adoption.

The society began providing services to unmarried mothers in 1911. It founded the Our Lady of Mercy Home for unmarried mothers and infants 22 years later at 54th Avenue and Oak Street.

A 1953 research report for the University of British Columbia provides a glimpse of the number of unmarried women who gave up their children for adoption through Catholic Children’s Aid.

Researcher Maurice Norbert Cote found in 1942 the society dealt with 70 unmarried mothers and made 12 adoption placements. The number of mothers served generally increased over the years, and by 1952 the society was managing 151 mothers and making 42 adoption placements. During that period, the number of women who gave up their children for adoption appears to range from a low of nine per cent to a high of 36 per cent.

Cote’s report also mentions that the society provided a limited amount of money to women who wished to keep their children but needed temporary financial help.

One decade after that report was published, the society was estimating about 60 per cent of unwed mothers using their services were giving up children for adoption.

A letter to pastors from the society in January 1964 seems to try to dispel a prevailing thought at the time. “While there is a great deal of anxiety and concern for secrecy, leaving home is not necessarily the best solution for an unmarried mother,” it said.

“Frequently it is better for her to be in her home and community, or near it, and practically it is especially for her during this difficult time to retain a close contact with her family.”

Notes from an annual general meeting one year later reveal discussions about not using fictitious names for the women because it was confusing for staff.

An archived policy document sheds some light on how the mothers were treated in hospital: unwed mothers who were going to parent their babies were to be treated like married women, while those who weren’t could only see their babies once a day. Visitors were only allowed inside the hospital if the mother and the agency agreed.

The term “illegitimate” pregnancy or child is frequently used in documents.

The society also operated a home for babies awaiting placement in adoptive or foster homes. That home and the Our Lady of Mercy Home reported overcrowding issues from time to time, and there were notices published in The B.C. Catholic encouraging Catholic families to adopt babies to help out.

The Catholic Children’s Aid Society officially closed in 1973 and all adoption records were sent to the Ministry of Children and Families. Access to adoption records from that era is through the provincial government.

In 10 years of working with Origins Canada, Andrews has met many women who experienced feelings of loss after giving up children to adoption.

“We asked mothers a number of years ago what they were looking for, and they were looking for acknowledgement, validation, transparency in records, and some kind of taking of responsibility by churches and governments of what took place,” she told The B.C. Catholic.

So far, she said, of all churches linked to homes for unwed mothers in Canada, only the United Church has launched an investigation of its archives, reported on its findings, and created a task force. It has even written a liturgy of lamentation.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” Andrews said. The United Church of Canada offered “regret” for unfair treatment of unwed mothers and worked closely with Origins and other groups on this subject – “the best response we have had from any church.”

No other Canadian church has released any kind of apology for its role in the operations of homes where unwed women said they faced coercion, trauma, and violations of their rights. The government of Canada has also not made an apology for its role, although a Senate committee recommended it do so in 2018.

A B.C. woman who was forced to give up her baby in 1970 brought her story to the Archdiocese of Vancouver and says it is the only “Catholic ‘authority’ in Canada” that has responded to women’s pleas of attention by helping to share their stories.

Bernadette Dumas-Rymer told The B.C. Catholic that forced adoption activists across Canada have approached religious hierarchy across Canada. “Archbishop Miller is the only Catholic bishop who has listened to our stories and responded to us.”

Dumas-Rymer was 19 years old when she was sent to the United Church Home for Girls in Burnaby and forced by family and social workers to sign adoption papers for her  child she wanted to parent. Read her full story here.